New Beginnings

1: Locked Up

It was the first full moon since Scott McCall, Malia Tate, Lydia Martin, and Stiles Stilinski had gone off to college - all only a phone call away, and Scott especially worried for his beta Liam's safety, but Liam Dunbar, who was a senior in high school and Scott's beta, had it covered.

The day preceding the full moon was easy enough. Ever since the war, Liam's fellow students and teachers knew exactly what he was, not that he tried to advertise it. Some of them, now that the Anuk-ite was gone, were even accepting. But Liam couldn't stop remembering them standing behind guns, which was why his friend group consisted only of Mason Hewitt, his lifelong best friend; Corey Bryant, Mason's boyfriend and Liam's friend, too; and Nolan Holloway, an ex-hunter who had, surprisingly, been taken under Chris Argent's wing. They were people that Liam knew he could trust, and that was what counted.

Liam had never known Allison Argent, but Scott had told him, before leaving, that she had been a valuable member of their pack before she'd died, and so nobody objected to Nolan practicing his skills with a crossbow, especially since Chris was his teacher.

It also seemed to help Nolan cope with the death of Gabe, a fellow hunter who had been, in Liam's opinion, way more psychotic than Nolan, but nevertheless the teenagers had still been powerless as Gabe had been shot in the hunters' efforts to kill the werewolves.

And once more, that brought Liam's thoughts back to Theo Raeken, an enemy-turned-ally. Theo had taken Gabe's pain at the hospital as he was dying, for the first time, proving that he did, in fact, care about other people.

Liam hadn't been able to stop thinking about that moment, as they had all watched on.

Theo hadn't talked about it, afterwards; Liam had been in too much of a rush to get to Scott, who was at the school, and now he didn't know where exactly Theo was, only that he was still in Beacon Hills.

Liam didn't know why the other boy hadn't left yet, and wondered, not for the first time, what went on in Theo's head nowadays. Before he'd brought him back from, well, hell, Liam would've said without a doubt that Theo was a sociopath.

But you had to care to take someone's pain.

The day seemed to go by slowly; Liam didn't want to show it in front of the others, but in between periods, he was slipping into the boys' locker room and digging his claws into his palms. He was pretty sure Mason knew what was going on, but Liam didn't want to seem weak.

He was, after all, the temporary alpha while Scott was gone.

The day slugged by, and finally Liam let out a sigh of relief as he and his little group were able to leave school.

"You know," Mason told him, "last night was one of the coldest nights of the year."

"So?" Liam frowned. "I'd be more concerned if tonight was one of the coldest nights of the year."

"I'm just saying - " Mason stopped speaking abruptly, as did many of their surrounding students. "Is that Sheriff Stilinski?" he asked, as the sheriff got out of his cruiser casually.

"Yeah, that's him." Liam frantically searched his mind for anything he could've done recently. Nothing came to mind. "I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything, I'm innocent!"

"Liam, stop panicking," Mason hissed, his eyes widening. "Your claws are coming out."

"Liam," greeted Sheriff Stilinski, as another vehicle they recognized pulled up at the school - Chris Argent's black van.

"Argent, too?" Mason gaped at Liam. "Liam, what did you do?"

Stilinski rolled his eyes. "He didn't do anything, Mason," sighed the sheriff. "No, it's more about Parrish."

"Your deputy?" Mason inquired.

"Yeah, he found something - well, someone, I should say, that you should see."

Liam's heart began pounding in his chest.

"And I'm here," Argent interrupted, glancing at Stilinski, "on completely unrelated business. Nolan, do you mind if I speak with you, for a minute?"

Nolan looked positively terrified at the very thought, but at Liam's encouraging nod, the young boy went off with Argent. No one dared follow the duo.

"As for the rest of you," said Sheriff Noah Stilinski, "you can come if you want to. It's nothing - well, we don't think it's a threat."

"You said someone," Liam recalled Stilinski's earlier words.

"Yeah. Yes, I did," grimaced Sheriff Stilinski.

**********

Deputy Jordan Parrish, Beacon Hills' resident hellhound, relayed the story to them. "Someone called the police because there was a nearly-deserted grocery store parking lot - amazingly, the grocery store's still open - and there was a black pickup truck that had been sitting there for three nights."

"So?" questioned Liam. "What does this have to do with the person in lockup?" For upon arriving at the sheriff's station, Stilinski had proceeded to explain that the person they had found was currently in lockup with Melissa McCall - why, he would not say.

"Let him tell the story," Mason shushed his best friend.

"Anyway, it was a busy day. Somehow the call got forgotten about, until night had already fallen. Sheriff Stilinski sent me out to see what all the fuss was about, and we found him. In nearly hypothermic conditions, didn't seem to realize that it was me who was picking him up, fought me the entire way - it's a good thing he wasn't up to his usual strength - "

"So this person is supernatural? We've met him before? Why can't you just say that? Who is he?" Liam pressed, his eyes briefly flashing yellow; thankfully, only Mason and Parrish noticed.

"Let Parrish finish his story," Mason said again, annoyed.

"The sheriff isn't willing to release him unless one of you supervises. Also, he won't talk to anybody but Liam. I'm surprised," Parrish commented. "Normally, they ask for Scott. Very disappointed when we tell them he's out of town."

Liam's eyes widened in realization. "I'll go see him," he said suddenly. Mason made to find him, but once again, Liam's eyes flashed yellow. "Alone," he pleaded with his best friend.

"What - how do you know who he is?" demanded Mason.

"Not for sure, but I've definitely got a hunch," Liam responded. "The rest of you guys stay here, somebody tell Nolan we're at the sheriff's station. If I'm not out before the full moon, go without me."

"What? But Liam - "

"Mason, please. And Corey, don't think I won't ask Parrish whether or not you were up here," threatened Liam, knowing that while Mason might be able to find his boyfriend, the others couldn't, not when he was invisible.

Corey frowned.

Liam went downstairs, where there was someone Liam recognized, someone Liam hadn't seen since he had supposedly left Beacon Hills, someone who was cocooned in blankets and drinking hot chocolate as Melissa monitored his vitals.

"Is he healing?" Liam directed the question to Melissa, who nodded.

Liam punched Theo in the nose.

"Should've expected that," wheezed Theo, as Melissa looked at Liam. "Liam!" she exclaimed. "He's got hypothermia and we found him sleeping in a car, for goodness' sake - why would you break his nose?"

"For old times' sake," panted Liam, glancing at his now-bloodied wrist, "and also, he hasn't been responding to any of my messages."

"I accidentally broke my car charger on the last full moon," Theo said as his broken nose began to heal. "And four times? Really, Liam?"

"Now that that's out of the way," sighed Liam, "let's talk. Melissa, is it possible for us to talk in private?"

"You realize that Alec has werewolf hearing and is probably listening in on you right now, the sheriff's department is monitoring your conversation and watching you through the cameras, so anybody who doesn't have werewolf hearing is probably spying on you like that, and - yes, okay, I can leave you in 'private,'" Melissa did air quotations around the final word, rolled her eyes, and got up to leave the two boys alone in the holding cell.